The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-07-17
pANICS AT TWO FIRES.
oppHANS AND HOTEL GUESTS
DRIVEN OUT AT NIGHT.

A., rvnlosion in a Storage House
plous Seven Firemen Into the Street
and Infiicts Painful Iniuries-The Loss
bv the First Blaze Over $5OO,ooo and
nv the Second Only $4,000.
NEW YORK, July 16.-Fire was discov-
.,od about o'clock this morning in the five
story brick building of the Metropolitan
s+orare warehouse, in Thirty-eighth street,
between Broadway and Sixth avenue. In
. faw moments the flames mounted I'D
tbrough the structure, finding ready food in
tbo light stuff stored therein. Before the
sremen arrived the whole place was raging
4,~nace The flames were shooting up to-
ward the sky. Three alarms were soon sent
out, and special engine companies were sum-
moned from neighboring districts. The
warehouse formed an ''L'' with the Casino
bnlding, and it was feared that that beauti-
f1 temple of light opera would be in ashes,
INIT it was saved by the work of the firemen.
HOTEL CATCHES.
The Hotel Normandie is quite near, and
soon the sparks descending on this building
cat # on fire and the guests were hurriedly
summoned to leave. Porters rushed through
tbe halls and knocked at every door, The
gnests we're told that there was no imme-
Slate danger. They asked if they would
bayetime to pack their valuables, and being
answered in the affirmative, soon packed
their trunks and carried them down stairs.
The fire on the roof of the hotel was soon
extinguished however, and the guests being
reassllred went back to their rooms
BLOWN OUT OF THE WINDOWS.
Soon after the firemen had got to work at
tbe storage warehouse building a terrific
explosion occurred, and seven firemen who
were at work on the first floor were blown
through the windows to the street. All of
them were very severely burned about the
hands and feet, and an ambulance call was
Immediately sent out When the ambulance
arrived most of the injured firemen were un-
conscious, and by that time five of them had
been conveyed in patrol wagons to a hos
pital They were Capt. Vitler, of Engine
No. g. and four of his men. The other two
were John Conroy and John Douglass, of
Engine Company No. l. They were taken
0ahospital in an ambulance.
THE FIRM.
The business was conducted by Solon
RiabOcker, and the buildings and land are
the property of the Gollet estate. The fire
was discovered by the watchman, Angus Nc
Donald, who was in the building at the time
and at once sounded an alarm
The damage, as far as could be estimated,
was S5OOO00, although it may be much more.
The warehouse was used by New Workers
who are out of town and contained furni-
ture, paintings and valuable bric-a-brac of
all kinds.
DETAILS OF THE INJURIES.
The names of the firemen injured during
the fire are:
Foreman Peter Vedder, head, face and
hands severely burned.
Edward Curley, head and face burnt /;
.aken home.
John Conway, face and hands burned.
John Trainer, face and hands burned.
John Douglass, face and hands burned.
James Delaney, face burned and cut.
Patrick D. Breen, severely burned
Breen was outside the building on lad
aer he was blown down and fell twenty
ieet He sustained conclusion of the spine
The others were injured by the explosion on
NE first floor. They were blown through
the windows aud doors into the street Sew
aal policemen were cut by flying glass
Inc fire started on the second floor, and
owing to the combustible nature of the goods
stored therein, spread rapidly. The flames
IAN along the hatchways and stairways to
lle upper floors, and in fifteen minutes the
Whole vl building was ablaze. 1t was with
Llicllty that the flames were kept from
me adjoining buildings.